5 dead, 12 wounded in attacks across Chicago

Liam Ford and Peter NickeasTribune reporters

Five people were killed and at least 12 other people wounded in shootings Saturday night and Sunday morning across the city.

Police were questioning two suspects after Deering District officers were able to chase down the occupants of a car who fired on three people, killing a 24-year-old man, about 1:50 a.m. on the 5300 block of South Loomis Boulevard in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The 24-year-old who died was shot multiple times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was declared dead. A 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were being treated in serious condition at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.

The victims were shot on the street, and Deering District officers near 53rd and Loomis heard the shots and found the victims shot, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

The officers radioed for ambulances, then talked to the victims about who shot them and got a description of their attackers. The officers broadcast a description of a silver sedan that had fled west toward Ashland Avenue to other officers, and other Deering officers were able to locate the car. A Deering sergeant was then able to stop the car in an alley near 55th and Elizabeth streets, Mirabelli said.

One of the suspects was caught after a foot chase through gangways and yards, and the other was located and caught in a nearby vacant home, Mirabelli said.

Police have impounded the car and found a gun that may have been used in the shootings.

A 36-year-old man was killed on the 7500 block of South Wolcott Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood about 1:20 a.m., police said. He was at a party on the block, in a back yard, when someone drove by and opened fire, police said. Police said the man, identified as Bert Lindsey of the 7600 block of South Winchester Avenue, didn't have a criminal history. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center about 2:15 a.m., a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

A 24-year-old man was found dead in a car at the University of Chicago Medical Center about 10:30 p.m., according to authorities. He's believed to have been shot in the back in the 6300 block of South Ellis Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood and was driven to the hospital, police said.A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office identified him as Jeremy Anthony and said he lived about a block south from where he was shot.

Someone standing in the street shot him while he was sitting on the passenger side of the car's backseat, police said. The car's driver took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A 22-year-old man was killed in the East Chatham neighborhood Saturday evening. He was identified as Vincent Fitts, of the 4100 block of West Cermak Road, by a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.

Fitts was shot in the head and was dead on the scene about 7:52 p.m. in the 800 block of East 79th Street at Cottage Grove Avenue, authorities said.

A 24-year-old man was shot multiple times about 7:04 p.m. in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, police said.

The man was standing on the street in the 5900 Block of South Fairfield Avenue when a vehicle pulled up and one of the people inside stepped out, pulled a weaopon and started shooting at him, the man told police. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office identified him as Adrian Cruz, and said he lived on the same block where he was shot. He was taken to Stroger Hospital and was in critical condition, Zala said. He later died, Alfaro said.

A man was shot on the 3300 block of West Evergreen Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood about 4:20 a.m., police said. He's in serious condition, after being shot in the leg and chest, police said.

A 17-year-old man was shot in the face and back on the 500 block of East 67th Street in the West Woodlawn neighborhood about 2:15 a.m., police said and is in serious condition at Stroger Hospital.

Police said a 22-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by shooting about 1 a.m. in the West Woodlawn neighborhood. He was walking on the 800 block of East 66th Street when someone inside a passing blue sedan opened fire, hitting him in the left shoulder, police said. He was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, police said.

A 20-year-old man was shot in the groin about 12:05 a.m. in the 5900 block of South Laflin Street in the Englewood neighborhood while he was sitting on a porch, police said. He told police that he heard shots and felt pain and was taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition, police said.

About a half hour earlier, a 33-year-old man was shot in the back and the leg on the 6300 block of South Richmond Street in the Marquette Park neighborhood, police said. A man approached him and demanded money after pulling out a gun. The 33-year-old ran and the shooter opened fire, police said. The victim shot was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, police said.

A 28-year-old woman was shot in the face in the Jefferson Park neighborhood just before 10 p.m. Saturday, according to police. Someone fired shots at her when she opened the door to her apartment on the 5000 block of North Mango Avenue, said police, who indicated it might be domestic-related. The woman is in stable condition at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, police said.

Three people were shot on the 8300 block of South Homan Avenue in the Ashburn neighborhood about 9:10 p.m., police said. Two 14-year-old girls were shot in the leg and a 20-year-old man was shot in the chest.

Chicago Fire Department ambulances took one of the teens to Advocate Christ Medical Center and the other to Holy Cross Hospital, police said. Both are in good condition. The man went to Stroger Hospital, police said, and he's in serious condition.

About 7:33 p.m. in the 2900 block of West Congress Parkway in the Lawndale neighborhood, a 37-year-old man was shot in the head and back and was in critical condition on-scene, Zala said. He was later taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

State Police were handling that investigation because it was on a ramp to the Eisenhower Expressway, and referred all calls to a spokeswoman, who was not immediately available.